Season's blessings more than TV

Christmas is a reminder that accessories like television are not what is important in life. (Guy Busby/Correspondent)Guy Busby | AL.com

Sometimes, no matter how much you try, it’s hard to get into the feeling of peace on Earth and good will to everyone.

I tried again to find some way to get around the impasse.

Let me see if I have this straight, I told the woman on the phone. Part of our satellite receiver that y’all installed two months ago is out and your telling me that the earliest someone can come and fix it, replacing a small part that should take a few seconds to switch, is in eight days?

She replied that was the case in a cheerful tone that implied that we shouldn’t mind at all spending more than a week not having the television service for which we pay them a not inconsiderable amount.

I asked if I could just unplug the part, bring it to the office and get a new one?

Oh no, she replied, a technician had to do the job.

An email later that night and a second telephone call the next day brought no more clarity or earlier appointments.

No one could explain why no technicians were available for a week. This wasn’t the start of football season when some viewers might be upgrading to high definition. We hadn’t had storms that would have knocked out receivers.

I couldn’t imagine a few days before Christmas being the time when large numbers of people would be moving.

“I guess other people just made their appointments before you did,” the last person I talked to responded with equal cheer to the first operator.

I resisted the urge to reply that I guess I should have called for service a week before their equipment went to electronics heaven.

The people with whom I talked were not the problem. They were just doing their jobs taking calls from people often irate over decisions that the operators have no control over.

Other people made the decisions, whether that was to cut back on technicians or other services. The operators were just doing a job answering for those decisions.

I felt a bit guilty for my anger and self-pity. The TV was dark, but other lights glowed in the house. The tree was lit in the living room, bright colors reflecting on the nativity scene figures.

In a few days, the family would gather, everyone together for the first time in months.

Others have celebrated under far worse circumstances. Nobody was sick or homeless.

We weren’t worried about anyone in danger on some distant battlefield as so many families have been over the years.

People improvise Christmas trees in foxholes and FEMA trailers, determined to commemorate the season under much more difficult circumstances than most of us will face.

A week or so without “Top Gear” or “Doctor Who” was pretty insignificant in the overall scheme of the season.

The message of the season is that we are blessed. We have love, family and community. We see the joy in the eyes of children experiencing the wonder of this time of year and it brings back memories of our own joys of Christmas’s past.

We’re reminded that the season began with a long ago gift of a prophecy fulfilled through love, sacrifice and salvation.

The gifts and blessings are so much more than a few electronic gadgets.

Even in high-definition.

Guy Busby is a writer living in Silverhill. He can be reached at guylbusby@gmail.com and at guybusby.com. 